Marine biologist journeys into troubled waters on 'Deadliest Catch'

Tiffany Gubala, 26, has worked as a lifeguard in several O.C. communities for 8 years, recently completing a tour with Laguna Beach. The marine biologist is now leaving for a job with NOAA . Last season she worked as an Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor on several commercial fishing boats featured on the TV series "Deadliest Catch."JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Tiffany Gubala clung to the boat's railing, its walls and stairs – anything to try and stay upright on the constantly rolling boat deck.

With gale force winds gusting at up to 50 mph and 40-foot waves lashing across the decks, the 103-foot fishing boat was tossed like a surfboard riding the waves.

Gubala steadied her feet, in the midst of the coldest, stormiest waters on earth. A longtime lifeguard and avid surfer, she loved the ocean. She joked she was a fish when she was born.

A swimmer at age 5, she joined local swim teams and became a member of Mission Viejo Natadores in high school. Gubala surfed and lifeguarded.

But this was the first time in her life she looked onto the ocean and called it "angry."

She and six blue-collared, generations-old fishermen were in the middle of a March storm in the wildly raging Bering Sea, 370 miles from their port in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

The crew, one of the boats from the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" fleet, was on a hunt for the undersea jackpot: Bering Sea's snow crab. Pots (traps) had been set, and the crew was ready to haul them onto the deck when the storm hit.

To be safe, the boat's captain decided to run with the storm. Still, Gubala and the crew were flung like ragdolls on their way from the boat's deck to the wheelhouse.

A rogue wave blasted the ship's starboard side, and Gubala went flying. A crew member caught her. Going overboard means almost certain death. Breathing becomes irregular, the water is below freezing and the heavy fishing gear drags you down. If you get swept away at night, it's lucky if you're found. But the boat's captain saw her in the last moment and sounded the alarm.

"You're holding on for dear life," she said. "It was terrifying and exciting all at once. I thought if I were to die right now, I'd have no regrets."

Love of the ocean

Gubala grew up loving the ocean. At Dana Hills High, she surfed and swam competitively. At 12, her parents signed her up for the junior lifeguard program. For 10 weeks, five days a week, six hours a day, Gubala swam, surfed and ran along the Orange County coastline.

"The program changed my life and helped me become the person I am today," she said. "Through junior lifeguards, I developed a great deal of respect for the ocean and a curiosity that could only be satisfied by exploration."

At 16, she swam for the Mission Viejo Natadores National Swim Team. After graduating from Dana Hills, Gubala worked for Laguna Beach Lifeguards and surfed. A surfing trip to Australia at age 19 focused her on her life's plan.

When she got back to her studies at Orange Coast College, she focused on oceanography and became an aide with Thomas Garrison, a professor of oceanography at OCC and USC.

"I decided I wanted to be in and around the ocean for the rest of my life," Gubala said. "I wanted not only to be a lifeguard, but I wanted to find a way to give back. Seeing the destruction of the local environment through coastal development and urban runoff prompted me to do what I could."

With adventure in her heart, Gubala signed up at Macquarie University in Sydney. In Australia, she studied carpet sharks, whose numbers declined as a result of overfishing. She worked as a scientific diver and helped with a repopulation and release program for the sharks.

In Fiji, she worked for a nonprofit group in tropical studies. She helped locals learn about the importance of the white tip reef shark and its value to the ecosystem of the islands.

"We helped them understand that they're not just vicious eating machines," she said.

She also helped discover never-seen-before coral. In the Bahamas, she taught locals about tiger sharks, bull sharks and lion fish. She investigated species that were destroying the reefs.

Tiffany Gubala, 26, has worked as a lifeguard in several O.C. communities for 8 years, recently completing a tour with Laguna Beach. The marine biologist is now leaving for a job with NOAA . Last season she worked as an Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor on several commercial fishing boats featured on the TV series "Deadliest Catch." JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tiffany Gubala checks out snow crabs and other animals found in the pots hauled in from the Bering Sea. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY GUBALA
Tiffany Gubala on one of the boats from the Deadliest Catch fleet. She was there from January until May. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY GUBALA
Longtime Laguna Beach lifeguard and marine biologist Tiffany Gubala, 26, stopped to walk in the tidepools at Heisler Park Ecological Reserve in Laguna Beach recently. She is now off to work for NOAA. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tiffany Gubala dressed in her survival suit in the stormy weather of the Bering Sea. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY GUBALA
As a marine field scientist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Gubala monitored fishing practices and the catches hauled in from the Bering Sea. Here is some unusual Bering Sea coral. PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY GUBALA
Tiffany Gubala, 26, spent four months with a crew of six on on of the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch boats. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Gubala
Longtime Laguna Beach lifeguard and marine biologist Tiffany Gubala, 26, stopped in to visit the tidepools at Heisler Park Ecological Reserve in Laguna Beach recently. She is now off to work for NOAA. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
O.C.-raised marine biologist Tiffany Gubala, 26, has worked as a lifeguard for 8 years and traveled the world in a variety of roles. Last season she worked as an Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor on several commercial fishing boats featured on the TV series "Deadliest Catch." The longtime Laguna Beach lifeguard is now leaving for a job with NOAA . JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tiffany Gubala, a lifeguard for the city of Laguna Beach, spent four months with the crew and captain from one of Discovery Channels' "Deadliest Catch" boats. Gubala is a marine biologist and was tasked with keeping an eye on fishing in the Bering Sea. PHOTO COURTESY TIFFANY GUBALA
Tiffany Gubala, 26, has worked as a lifeguard in several O.C. communities for 8 years, recently completing a tour with Laguna Beach. The marine biologist is now leaving for a job with NOAA. Last season she worked as an Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor on several commercial fishing boats featured on the TV series "Deadliest Catch." JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
O.C. raised Marine biologist Tiffany Gubala, 26, has worked as a lifeguard for 8 years and traveled the world in a variety of roles. Last season she worked as an Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor on several commercial fishing boats featured on the TV series "Deadliest Catch." The longtime Laguna Beach lifeguard is now leaving for a job with NOAA. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
O.C. raised Marine biologist Tiffany Gubala, 26, has worked as a lifeguard for 8 years and traveled the world in a variety of roles. Last season she worked as an Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife monitor on several commercial fishing boats featured on the TV series "Deadliest Catch." The longtime Laguna Beach lifeguard is now leaving for a job with NOAA . JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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